working person in this country. Thecost and complexity associated withelder care should be a big concern forus, as health care costs continue tosoar. Medicare will only grow in sizeas elders require more services andlonger duration of care (because theyare living longer).”Alain says that, while the laws them-selves might be an effective tool to pro-tect vulnerable adults, more needs to bedone to ensure that corporations andindividuals are abiding by the law. Hesays, “So much of my work at CLS wasmitigating existing wrongs and down-falls of the [laws]. Rather than abidingby the WACs and regulations requiringhospitals to provide Charity Care, I ex-perienced so many hospitals attemptingto circumvent these rules. This makesit difficult for such laws to fulfill theirpurpose…while I recognize that lawmak-ers have enacted procedures to protectthese vulnerable populations, harms arestill being committed every day.”

A Call to Action

In addition to noting the strengths anddeficits in the current systems that as-sist and protect seniors, the internsexpressed hope for the future. As theinterns noted, however, if current le-gal shortcomings are to be improvedor eliminated, a new generation of ad-vocates must step forward to pick upwhere Peter and other advocates likehim left off. Brett says, “I think Wash-ington has made strides to protect itscitizens, with laws such as the VAPO(Vulnerable Adult Protective Order)statute, for example. Recent changeswere made to that law in 2015, but notwithout intervention from attorneysrepresenting the WSBA Elder LawSection. These attorneys paid carefulattention to changes in the law and en-sured that the law would remain strongto protect our vulnerable seniors.” Brettcontinues, “As a younger generation ofnew attorneys, we have an obligationto keep that momentum and protectionmoving forward. I hope that more lawstudents will see the impacts of elderlaw attorneys in practice and follow intheir footsteps. We have big shoes to fillin that regard.”Similarly, Katie says, “In orderfor our elderly to be fully protected,increased protections should createcommunity support that seniors needinstead of relying on elderly individu-als to have community support of theirown. For example, developments mayinclude simplified benefit applicationsfor seniors, improved processes for as-sisted decision-making for elderly indi-viduals with no friends or family, andcreating an organized and concertedeffort by attorneys, financial advisors,medical professionals, and others whoare in a position to see the signs ofabuse and exploitation to catch thesecases early on.”

All three interns communicated a desire for this internship to continue for
many years in the future — both to inspire law students to pursue elder law,
but also because the internship presents a unique opportunity for students
to gain practical, hands-on experience
working in civil legal aid.

Katie’s career coach at the Univer-sity of Washington suggested thatshe apply for the internship becauseof her strong interest in elder law.Grateful for the opportunity, she says,“As far as I’ve seen, this internshipis the only of its kind as far as accessto the elder law community and themost current and widespread elderlaw issues. This internship gives aunique perspective that pinpointsthe intersections between the issuesand parties involved in elder law.As a longstanding institution in thisarea of law, [CLS] is a well-connectedstarting block for anyone wanting toexplore a career in elder law.”Now graduated, Alain reflects on theinternship and says, “My biggest gripeabout law school is the fact that, unlessyou luck out, there are not enough op-portunities for students to actually ex-perience what it is like practicing law.This internship was one of those fewopportunities that I felt reflected whatit was actually like to lawyer.”Brett states that the internship “iscrucial to continuing the exposure ofelder issues.” He adds, “Without elderlaw attorneys, the problems of guard-ianship, health care affordability, andabuse/neglect issues will only continueto grow. Seniors are a major vulnerablepopulation, and they need and deserveour protection. An internship like thisis one step in the direction of a betterfuture for this population.”

Coming Full Circle

During his career, Peter worked tire-lessly on behalf of Washington’s grow-ing senior population. Although Peter’swork will leave a permanent mark onthe elder law community, unfortu-nately, as the interns noted, issues thatnegatively affect elderly individualspersist. In order to ensure the safety,health, and well-being of Washing-ton’s seniors, future advocates, indeed,“have big shoes to fill.”Support from the legal communityof the WSBA Elder Law Section’s Pe-ter Greenfield Senior Advocacy Sum-mer Internship is making a differencein the lives of seniors in Washington.The WSBA Elder Law Section is proudof this tradition and is grateful for thecontinued support. NWL

The executive committee of the WSBA
Elder Law Section would like more law
students to consider a future in elder
law. To keep this invaluable scholarship program going, the WSBA needs
support. To donate online, simply go to
www.mywsba.org/donation.aspx. Alternatively, to donate by mail, checks
can be made payable to the Washington State Bar Association, Attn: Peter
Greenfield Fund, 1325 4th Avenue, Suite
600, Seattle, WA 98101.

SAGE
GRAVES is
a third-year
law student
at Seattle
University
School of
Law and a
volunteer
for the
WSBA Elder

Law Section. At Seattle University,
Graves is a Dean’s List student and
the executive editor of the Seattle
Journal for Social Justice. She
intends to practice elder law after
graduation and can be reached at
gravess2@seattleu.edu.